"These allegations need to be investigated urgently," UN refugee agency spokeswoman Vivian Tan said in a statement issued on Friday.
"We have consistently asked countries in the region to provide temporary protection, including protection against abuse and exploitation," she added.
A report based on a two-month investigation in three countries published on Thursday by Reuters revealed that Myanmar's Rohingya refugees had been removed from Thailand's detention centers and transported across the country's south. The refugees were held hostage in camps hidden near the border with Malaysia until their relatives pay ransoms to release them.
"The detainees also need to be informed about their options in a language they understand. Any decision to leave must be voluntary, and those who choose to leave must be protected against abuse and exploitation by smugglers," said Tan.
On Friday, the United States also made a call for an investigation into the scandal. "We are aware of reports alleging that Thai officials have been involved in selling Rohingya migrants to human traffickers," US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
"We urge the Thai government to conduct a serious and transparent investigation into the matter," she added.
"We remain deeply concerned about the safety of and humanitarian conditions for vulnerable communities in Burma, including refugees and asylum seekers on Burma's borders and elsewhere in the region," Harf stated.
Myanmar's government refuses to recognize Rohingya Muslims as citizens and labels them as "illegal" immigrants.
Rohingya Muslims have been denied Myanmar citizenship since a new citizenship law was enacted in 1982, and there have been a number of attacks on Rohingyas over the past year.
The violence that originally targeted Rohingya Muslims in western Myanmar is beginning to spread to other parts of the country, where Muslims who have been granted citizenship are now being attacked, according to the website Myanmarmuslims.org.
About 800,000 Rohingyas in the western state of Rakhine are deprived of citizenship rights due to the policy of discrimination that has denied them the right of citizenship and made them vulnerable to acts of violence and persecution, expulsion, and displacement.
The Myanmar government has so far refused to extricate the stateless Rohingyas from their citizenship limbo, despite international pressure to give them a legal status.
Rohingya Muslims have faced torture, neglect, and repression in Myanmar for many years.
Hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed and thousands displaced in recent attacks by extremists who call themselves Buddhists.
The extremists frequently attack Rohingyas and have set fire to their homes in several villages in Rakhine. Myanmar army forces allegedly provided the fanatics containers of petrol for torching the houses of Muslim villagers, who were then forced to flee.
Myanmar's government has been accused of failing to protect the Muslim minority.
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has also come under fire for her stance on the violence. The Nobel Peace laureate has refused to censure the Myanmar military for its persecution of the Rohingyas, although earlier this year she condemned the decision by local officials in Rakhine state to enforce a two-child policy on Rohingya Muslims.
Rohingyas are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have issued separate statements, calling on Myanmar to take action to protect the Rohingya Muslim population against extremists.
GJH/MAM/MHB
Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/12/07/un-calls-for-thai-probe-into-rohingya-trafficking/
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